Nearly all people across all known cultures engage in rhythmic entrainment with others through dance, and have done so since prehistoric times. Despite this, our understanding of the functions of dance remain surprisingly limited; some have suggested that dance promotes prosocial behavior and group bonding, but research on this has given inconsistent results. The current project aims to develop new knowledge about this topic by addressing previously unexplored aspects of dance in social contexts. The project will be the first to use motion capture measure the full-body, complex movement and hierarchical entrainment of multiple dancers in relation to prosocial effects of social entrainment through dance, and will furthermore account for the role of visual, auditory, motoric and vestibular information in determining human experiences and outcomes of dance.

2020

2024